Robert A. Hackett

Published Under the Garamond Imprint North Americans now live in a highly complex media environment where newspapers are still immensely important vehicles for democratic communication. No other mass medium offers the same combined possibilities for accessibility, in-depth analysis, diversity of views, and sustained reflection on important political and economic issues. But do newspapers in Canada really report an adequate range of views and issues? The authors argue that as significant as what is reported are the stories that are not reported, or "buried." What are the filters and blind spots that determine what gets into print...and what doesn't? The authors believe that journalism's most important tasks in a democratic society include holding those in power accountable, and giving voice even to those without wealth or political influence. The Missing News shows us that Canadians have reason to be concerned.

The news media are often accused of lacking objectivity. Sustaining Democracy? asks whether it is worth trying to be objective in the first place by addressing current, and highly topical, debates on the relationship between journalism and democracy in Canada and the United States. These debates are made all the more urgent by the perceived crises of technological change, declining and fragmented audiences, media concentration, and popular cynicism about public life.

This volume centers on a critical examination of press coverage of peace-related issues and of the relationships between newspaper journalism and the peace movement in Canada in the 1980s. The chapters deal respectively with the following topics: the relevance and impact of news media in relation to both international peace, and the emergence and success of antiwar movements; a critical review of previous research on the relation between media and antiwar movements; an extensive explanation of the nature of news; an overview of Canada's news media system; the political/discursive context of news concerning peace and defense; several case studies of relevant press coverage; a discussion of how open the news is to the expression of antiwar sentiment; and an epilogue considering whether the end of the Cold War has fundamentally changed the nature of North American media coverage of war and peace issues.